Tool for applying hose clamps



y 1940- c. CAMPBELL TOOL FOR APPLYING HQSE CLAMPS Filed Jan. 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1 IN VENTOR. CAL Vl/V C/I/IPBEL L v BY v I fir v ATTORNEY.

July 16,. 1940. I c, CAMPBELL 2,208,114

TOOL FOR APPLYING HOSE CLAMPS Filed Jan. 10, 1958 2 sheetsshee" 2 IN CAL V/A/ CAM/ 854 L ATTORNEY.

VENTOR.

Patented July id, w th STATES PATENT OFFICE Calvin Campbell, Littleton, 01110., assignor, by mesne, assignments. to Michael J. McAneny, .lin,

Denver, colo.

Application January 10, 1938, Serial No. 184,1E2

, 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in a tool for applying a clamp to a hose or the like, more particularly for applying clamp bands of the type in which a flat flexible band is drawn around a hose or the like, sheared to provide a measured locking end, and finally locked in place by means of a head or buckle.

The present construction is an improvement in a clamping tool of the type disclosed in the United States Patent of M. J. McAneny, Jr., No. 2,115,736, issued May 3, 1938.

In the operation of the clamping tool of the above application, it is necessary that bands of approximately the right length be cut from a strip and then placed in the tool and subsequently trimmed to the exact length required for fastening around the hose. Obviously, this operation involves considerable unnecessary work and a waste of material, and it is the principal object of the present invention to avoid these objectiom able features by providing a tool in which bands of the exact length are out off from a continuous strip by the tool itself, after the band is in place around a hose, thereby eliminating one of the cutting operations and preventing waste.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of design and construction, inclusive of jaws between which the band passes, a rotary cutting shear which severs the band from the roll, and novel band-gripping means on the tool. These and other features will be disclosed fully, in the following description and in the drawings wherein like parts have been similarly designated and in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of a hose clamp tool embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view, partly in section as on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an elevation of sucha tool in operating position; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of a more advanced stage of the operation of such a tool.

In the drawings, reference character i5 denotes a rigid supporting structure or frame, that is open along one side, or C-shaped.

The forward end of the frame is convergingly bevelled to form a thrust jaw l6 and a slightly shorter locking jaw ll, between which is a slot ii, that is open at the side for the reception of the clamp band material.

The two jaws have complementary recesses for the reception of a rotary shear IS, the locking jaw ll constituting a shear plate providing a shearing edge Ha that cooperates with a helical cutting edge 20 on the shear I9, to sever a clamp band inserted in the space between the jaws, to a measured locking length. The rotary shear is provided with an operating handle 2! and it is retained in its assembled position in the frame by means of a screw 22 that engages in a groove 23 in the shear.

A slide 26 is carried by a tension screw 21 on which it is swivelled, and the slide is provided with guides .28 that slide in a groove 29 along an inner surface of the main supporting frame it.

The slide, in the form illustrated, is U-shaped and provides a pair of parallel undercut hooks it, that provide bearings SI for the journals 32, of an eccentric key 33 which may be removably inserted therein to cooperate with a hardened and roughened rotary cam 36, to grip a clamp band when inserted, as at 35. The lower surface of the cam 34, may be flattened to be engaged by a leaf spring 36 and to be thereby urged to a normal position when not in use, the spring permitting free normal movement of the cam when it is in use.

The tension screw 21, is in a correspondingly threaded hole through a part I 5a of the main with the slot iii. A T-handle 31, on the screw, supporting frame l5, and is substantially alined provides for easy manual operation thereof and a slot 38 in the end of the shear handle 2|, is usedin looking the bands as will be explained below.

Operation In use, a band of flexible steel or the like and a locking buckle, similar to the clamp assembly disclosed in the United States patent of M. J. McAneny, Jr., No. 2,192,979, issued March 19, 1940, may be used with the improved tool but the present improvement in the tool provides that a continuous length of the clamp band material may be used instead of a pre-cut length that may not exactly fit the circumference of the hose and which, usually, must be trimmed to the correct length, thus wasting a remnant of the material. The present improvement saves band material and the pro-cutting of the band.

First, an end of a band 39 is bent into a hook, shown at 39a, Figures 4 and 5, to engage a locking buckle 40. To accomplish this, the band-end is inserted into the slot 1 8 of the tool, and it is then bent back upon itself. Next, the buckle 40, is slipped onto the band and a loop is formed around the hose. The free end of the band, having the formed hook, is hooked onto the buckle, while the part of the band that extends through the buckle is inserted into the 15001 through the side of the slct it, ever the cutting edge 26 of the rotary shear 89, said shear and cutting edge being open at an end to receive the band sideways. The band is next positioned over the cam 34, in the slide 26, beyond which it may extend indefinitely as indicated at a. The eccentric key 33 is next positioned in its bearings 3|, and the eccentric 33a thereof is rotated to grip the band between the key and the cam as illustrated in Figure 2.

The thrust jaw 16 of the tool is then placed against bridge a of the buckle, as shown in Figure 4, and the tension screw is used to draw the slide to tighten the gripped band around the hose. When the band is sufliciently tight the tool is rotated, as in Figure 5, to bend it over the buckle and thereby lock it; whereupon the rotary shear is operated to cut off the band to the exact length required for the locking end. Finally tongues 25, of the buckle, are bent over the band-end by means of the slot 38 in the shear handle, to secure the lock. Thus a safe, smooth lock of the band is effected and no material is wasted. Recesses 24, in the jaw H are provided to clear the tongues 25 when the tool is in the locking position shown in Figure 5.

The continuous band material in rolls or other convenient form is less expensive to buy and to handle than pre-formed or pre-cut bands, and there is no necessity of keeping many different sizes of-hose clamps in stock, since any required,

length can be cut from the roll of material.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters 7 Patent is: I

1. A tool of the character described comprising a frame element, a slide member adapted to move along the frame element and be guided thereby, means for so moving the slide, an openend cutting member on the frame there being an open sided slot in the frame adjacent said cutting member whereby a hose band may be inserted sideways in a position to be severed by the cutting member and in alinement with said slide member, key hearings on said slide member, an eccentric key adapted to be J'ournaled in the bearings, and band-gripping means on the slide member positioned to cooperate with said key when it is journaled on the slide for gripping a. hose band.

'2. A tool of the character described compris- 

